Domestic Violence

Collaborative news group MuckRock is launching a new project that aims to shed light on the problem of domestic violence perpetrated by police officers. But according to the group, the cost of paying for these records is “daunting.”

ByRobin L. Barton |June 27, 2018

Our society still clings to stereotypes of men as being macho, strong and able to take care of themselves. So it’s no surprise if many victimized men feel they would get no sympathy, support or help if they admitted that their wives or girlfriends physically abused them.

ByStephen Handelman |May 24, 2018

A national awareness campaign similar to the anti-drinking and driving movement is the most promising way to address the nation’s domestic violence problem, according to speakers at John Jay College Wednesday. They called it a public health challenge.

New Jersey police Sgt. Philip Seidle shot and killed his wife in 2015, three weeks after their divorce became final. A lawsuit by the victim’s children says police officials ignored numerous signs of his potential for violence, including a long record of excessive force complaints and 12 different calls for help from the victim, Tamara Wilson-Seidle.

ByMegan Hadley |May 23, 2018

Lynn Rosenthal and Bea Hanson, prominent players in the Obama White House, told a conference at John Jay College Tuesday they were worried that the upcoming reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act would not cover the programs needed to help women experiencing intimate partner violence.

Connecticut has a long record of arresting both domestic abusers and spouses or partners who fight back during an assault. A bill to curtail the practice cruised through the state legislature last week and is expected to be signed into law by the governor.

Nine officers in Connecticut were hurt last week when a barn exploded in the midst of a domestic violence situation–a reminder of the volatility of such incidents. “We don’t walk around covered head to toe in Kevlar,” said a New Haven officer. “So there is no preparation for these things.”

The surge of firearms-involved calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline involving firearms was attributed to increased publicity about mass shootings. Nearly 12,000 of the hotline’s calls in 2017 were related to guns, up from about 6,800 such contacts in 2016.

ByClaudia Bellante |April 17, 2018

A dedicated network of psychologists, advocates and shelters has emerged to cope with the rise in domestic violence victims since last year’s Hurricane Maria. The challenge is complicated by the slow pace of reconstruction and the lack of government resources.

Gun-control advocates who push for “one-size-fits-all” enforcement of laws that make it illegal for anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence offenses to possess firearms “ignore the reality of intimate-partner abuse,” argues a paper published this month in the Ohio State Law Journal.

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WORTH A READ

William Edwards, released from jail with a GPS tracking device that he has to pay for, is one of thousands of poor defendants left at the mercy of an ‘E-carceration” system increasingly run by for-profit services, writes an attorney who is leading a class action lawsuit combating the practice.

The “piecemeal” approach by state and federal court approach to addressing trial-level errors fails to account for the complex ways that seemingly independent errors interact with one another, writes a professor at the Northeastern University School of Law.

Vox news reporter German Lopez reports there were plenty of reasons for the low turnout from white nationalists at Sunday's Unite the Right rally, including alt.right organizers' fear of retribution. He quotes neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin as warning prospective participants: "Getting doxed as a neo-Nazi street fighter will ruin your life, forever.”

A Brooklyn, N.Y,-based grassroots group is teaching people with substance abuse disorder how to avoid getting ensnared in the criminal justice system. Organizer Jason Del Aguila says the first step is empowering individuals in their encounters with the courts and police.

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